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TORN price sinks 45% after U.S. Treasury sanctions Tornado Cash — Rebound ahead?
Tornado Cash (TORN) has lost almost half its market valuation two days after being slapped with sanctions by the U.S. Treasury Department. The department accused Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer platform, of laundering more than $7 billion in cryptocurrencies, including a stash of $455 million allegedly stolen by North Korea-based hackers. Immediate reactions were followed by U.S.-based crypto companies, including Circle and Coinbase. In a controversial move, the popular crypto firms blocked the movements of their jointly-issued stablecoin USDC tied to Tornado Cash’s blacklisted smart contracts. TORN price drops 45% The news prompted traders to limit their exposure to TORN, Tornado Cash’s native token. On the daily chart, TORN’s price has slipped by approximately 45...
Blockchain’s environmental impact and how it can be used for carbon removal
Climate change has become an important issue over the years due to concerns over environmental changes caused by the emission of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. Conversations have even reached the crypto space, and blockchain technology is being considered a potential tool to reduce carbon emissions. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) that use the proof-of-work (PoW) mining algorithm have come under scrutiny due to their alleged energy expenditure. To see where this scrutiny comes from, it first needs to be known how much energy is used when mining PoW cryptocurrencies. Unfortunately, estimating the amount of energy necessary to mine Bitcoin and other PoW cryptocurrencies cannot be calculated directly. Instead, it can be estimated by looking at the network’s ha...
Curve Finance exploit: Experts dissect what went wrong
Decentralized finance protocols continue to be targeted by hackers, with Curve Finance becoming the latest platform to be compromised after a domain name system (DNS) hijacking incident. The automated market maker warned users not to use the front end of its website on Tuesday after the incident was flagged online by a number of members of the wider cryptocurrency community. While the exact attack mechanism is still under investigation, the consensus is that attackers managed to clone the Curve Finance website and rerouted the DNS server to the fake page. Users who attempted to make use of the platform then had their funds drained to a pool operated by the attackers. Curve Finance managed to remedy the situation in a timely fashion, but attackers still managed to siphon what was origi...
Bitcoin price sees $24K, Ethereum hits 2-month high as US inflation shrinks
Bitcoin (BTC) regained $24,000 but failed to hit new multi-month highs on Aug. 10 as United States inflation appeared to be slowing. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView CPI cuts risk assets much-needed slack Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirmed hourly gains of around $1,000 after U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for July showed a slowdown versus the previous month. While managing $24,179 on Bitstamp, BTC/USD nonetheless did not attract enough momentum to challenge levels from the day prior. Nonetheless, relief among traders was palpable, as declining inflation should signal to the Federal Reserve that less aggressive interest rate hikes are necessary going forward. This, in turn, should reduce pressure on risk assets, includin...
Verve Label Group Ups Jamie Krents to President of Verve Imprint, Dawn Olejar to GM
UMG’s Verve Label Group has promoted Jamie Krents to president of its Verve, Impulse! and Verve Forecast labels, while the company’s executive vp Dawn Olejar has added the role of general manager to her responsibilities. The New York-based executives will both report to Dickon Stainer, president and CEO of Verve Label Group and Universal Classics and Jazz. “These two exciting promotions mark a crucial moment in the evolution of Verve,” said Stainer in a statement. “Jamie Krents becoming President of Verve and Impulse! is a true testament to his unique and exceptional vision for artist development as these legendary labels enter a new era under his stewardship. Dawn Olejar is a role model for outstanding label management, and her new combined responsibilities as EVP and General Manager refl...
Elon Musk Backpedals on April Comments and Sells Another $6.9 Billion USD in Tesla Shares
Elon Musk has now backpedaled on comments he made back in April, selling more Tesla shares in anticipation of his upcoming trial against Twitter. Four months ago, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO sold off $8.4 billion USD’s worth of shares he had in the former company before confirming with a tweet that he had no further plans to sell any more TSLA shares. Between August 5 and August 9, however, the tech mogul sold another 7,924,107 shares worth roughly $6.9 billion USD. Explaining why he sold the shares, Musk posted on Twitter that he needed cash in case some equity partners “don’t come through” if the social media platform really manages to push through with the deal with a victory in court, adding that he wants to avoid any emergency selling. Wall Street analyst Dan Ives...
Coinbase posts $1.1B loss in Q2 on ‘fast and furious’ crypto downturn
Crypto exchange giant Coinbase has cited a “fast and furious” downturn of the crypto markets as the reasons behind a staggering $1.1 billion net loss in the second quarter of 2022, which also saw trading volume and transaction revenue tumbling. It’s the second consecutive quarter of loss for the crypto company and the largest loss since its listing on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange (Nasdaq) in April 2021. The results, which also missed analyst expectations, were shared in a Q2 2022 Shareholder Letter from Coinbase on Aug. 9, stating: “The current downturn came fast and furious, and we are seeing customer behavior mirror that of past down markets.” Coinbase said that Q2 was a “tough quarter” with trading volume falling 30% and transaction revenue down 35% seque...
Tether also confirms its throwing weight behind the post-Merge Ethereum
Hot on the heels of an official announcement from USD Coin (USDC) issuer Circle Pay, stablecoin giant Tether has now also officially confirmed its support behind Ethereum’s upcoming Merge upgrade and switch to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism-based blockchain. The announcement came on the same day as its stablecoin competitor, who pledged they will only support Ethereum’s highly anticipated upgrade. In an Aug. 9 statement, Tether labeled the Merge one of the “most significant moments in blockchain history” and outlined that it will work in accordance with Ethereum’s upgrade schedule, which is currently slated to go through on Sept. 19. “Tether believes that in order to avoid any disruption to the community, especially when using our tokens in DeFi projects and platforms, it’s imp...
Iran makes $10M import with crypto, plans ‘widespread’ use by end of Sept
Struggling through decades of economic sanctions, Iran has placed its first international import order using $10 million worth of cryptocurrency, according to a senior government trade official. News that the Islamic republic placed its first import order using crypto was shared by Iran’s Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine & Trade Alireza Peyman-Pak in a Twitter post on Aug. 9. While the official did not disclose any details about the cryptocurrency used or the imported goods involved, Peyman-Pak said that the $10 million order represents the first of many international trades to be settled with crypto, with plans to ramp this up over the next month, noting: “By the end of September, the use of cryptocurrencies and smart contracts will be widely used in foreign trade with ta...
DeFi needs a ‘killer app’ to go next level, says Ripple exec
A “killer app” for consumers is what will be needed to bring the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector to a level that draws in a mainstream audience, said Ripple Lab’s head of DeFi markets Boris Alergant. Alergant nade the comments during a panel at the Blockchain Futurist Conference titled “The Future of Decentralized Finance” on Aug. 9, which was covered by Cointelegraph reporters on the ground in Toronto, Canada. Alongside Alergant, Aventus Ventures CEO Kevin Hobbs, FLUIDEFI co-founder and CEO Lisa Loud, and Teller Finance CEO and co-founder Ryan Berkin also featured on the panel. The general sentiment among the panelists was that centralized finance institutions will ultimately push DeFi towards mainstream adoption. Alergant suggested that growth will likely come from a user...
Total value locked in DeFi dropped by 66%, but multiple metrics reflect steady growth
The aggregate total value locked (TVL) in the crypto market measures the amount of funds deposited in smart contracts and this figure declined from $160 billion in mid-April to the current $70 billion, which is the lowest level since March 2021. While this 66% contraction is worrying, a great deal of data suggests that the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector is resilient. The issue with using TVL as a broad metric is the lack of detail that is not shown. For example, the number of DeFi transactions, growth of layer-2 scaling solutions and venture capital inflows in the ecosystem are not reflected in the metric. In DappRadar’s July 29 Crypto adoption report, data shows that the DeFi 2Q transaction count closed down by 15% versus the previous quarter. This figure is far less concerning...
Anonymous user sends ETH from Tornado Cash to prominent figures following sanctions
On Tuesday, one day after the U.S. Treasury sanctioned cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash for its alleged role in cryptocurrency money laundering operations, intervals of 0.1 Ether (ETH) transactions began materializing from the smart contract to prominent figures such as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and American television host Jimmy Fallon. It is not possible to trace the source of the transactions per Tornado Cash design, and as a result, either one individual or multiple individuals or entities could be involved in the operation. Notable individuals/companies who just received funds from a government-sanctioned entity: – Jimmy Fallon– Shaquille O’Neal– PUMA– Randi Zuckerberg– Logan Paul– Brian Armstrong– Steve Aoki– Uk...
